


Empty Rooms

by wendelah1



Category: The Americans (TV 2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-04 21:52:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendelah1/pseuds/wendelah1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her parents aren't home. This is her best chance to find out the truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empty Rooms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fleurlb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurlb/gifts).



Paige is surprised when Mrs. Beeman, their neighbor from across the street, arrives at school to pick her up. 

"Paige, get in the car," Mrs. Beeman calls out. 

Her heart is beating faster and faster. Something bad has happened. She sees her brother Henry through the window, sitting in the backseat. She climbs into the front seat, next to Mrs. Beeman. 

Seeing her face, Mrs. Beeman reaches over and squeezes her hand. "It's okay. Your father called us. He and your mom had to go out of town for an emergency."

Paige manages a smile. What kind of an emergency would cause both her parents to go away at the same time? They've never left home for more than a long weekend, not even as a family. "It's hard to get away when you run your own business," she remembers her dad explaining after she asked why a family who owns a travel agency never takes a vacation.

Mrs. Beeman continues to talk. "Your mom's great-aunt fell down a flight of steps. I guess she hasn't any other family close by, so they're driving up to New York. Stan said your mother might stay for awhile to take care of her." 

Her mother has a great-aunt? Paige doesn't try to hide her surprise. She knows Mrs. Beeman will assume it's because of her parents leaving so unexpectedly. She tries to catch a glimpse of Henry in the mirror, but she can't see him without craning her neck so she settles back into her seat. 

Her parents never talked about an aunt, not even when she had asked for a school project about genealogy. Her dad told her his father had died in WWII. His mom had raised him alone, then died herself from a heart attack when he was a freshman in college. Both of her mother's parents died in an accident when she was only five so she was raised by her grandmother, who had passed away before her parents were married. Her dad thought he might have some distant relatives back in Ireland but his grandfather had run away from home and changed his name a couple of times before he ended up in America. 

He never mentioned an aunt living in New York, just a few hours' drive from their house.

~/~/~

It isn't so bad at the Beemans'. Mrs. Beeman lets her, Henry and Matthew sit at the counter for dinner. She says their dining room is too formal and the kitchen table too small. She makes them fish sticks and Tater Tots and give them their choice of Pepsi or Sprite. 

"Did my dad say when he was coming home?" Paige asks Mr. Beeman. The soda tastes good, but it's too sweet. She wants to ask for a glass of milk but doesn't want to seem rude. They aren't allowed to have soda at home.

"No, but you can ask him later. I'm sure your parents will call to check up on you." Mr. Beeman stands alongside his wife in the kitchen, his arms folded over his chest, nursing a beer. He looks friendly, but preoccupied and a little tipsy. 

It's Friday night. No school until Monday, but Paige finds herself getting up from the counter. "I'd better go get my homework." Something's not right. She needs to get out of here so she can think about it. 

Mrs. Beeman doesn't bat an eye. Paige doubts Mr. Beeman even heard what she said. She takes the house key from the table, and makes her way quickly out of their house before she can talk herself out of it. She crosses over into her own front yard and walks up to the front door. She puts the key into the lock, and steps inside. 

She looks around the front room. Nothing has been disturbed, not that she can see. Her backpack is exactly where she left it. She unzips the backpack, and takes out her assignments. As she prepares to leave, she stares at the door that leads down to the basement, and stops. 

The dream is always the same: she wakes up in the night, calling for her mother. No one answers, so she gets out of her bed and starts down the hall to her parents' bedroom. She never gets there. Instead, she wanders in the dark, through room after deserted room, calling for her mom and dad, feeling more and more frightened, until at last she wakes up, shivering. 

The nightmare has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember having dreams. When Paige was seven, her parents made a rule forbidding her to go into their room at night. It had been her mother's idea, she could tell. Her father sat there silently while her mother explained the new rule. It applied to Henry now as well, but he slept like a log, and always had. It was about privacy, for her parents, and becoming more independent, for her. That's how her mother explained it.

Her father brought her home a new stuffed animal, a teddy bear. That night when he tucked her in, he told her the bear would keep away the bad dreams; miraculously, until this year, it had. Along with her Barbie dolls collection, her beloved Teddy was retired to a back shelf in her closet the year she turned 12. So far, she'd managed to leave him there. 

For the first time in years, she had the dream the night after the car accident, that day she and Henry had to walk home from the mall. The day she got into the car with that creep and made her little brother get in with her. That was so wrong, and so stupid, even now, thinking about what she'd done makes her want to crawl into a hole and die. _Idiot, I was such an idiot_. 

If she told her dad about the bad dream the way she wanted to, he might start asking questions she didn't want to answer. She couldn't tell him about that man and what Henry had to do to him so they could get away. She certainly couldn't tell her mother.

Last night she had the nightmare again. She didn't know why and she didn't care. This time, it was hard for her to wake herself out of the dream. She was scared and she wanted her mother. That wasn't wrong. So why did she feel so guilty? Her mind kept flashing back to their confrontation, replaying it, trying to make sense of what happened.

"What are you doing?" her mother snapped.

"I couldn't sleep. What are _you_ doing?" she replied, startled at her mother's vehemence.

"Laundry," she said coolly. "Why are you down here?" 

She hadn't done anything wrong. Why was her mother looking at her like that? "I wanted to get a glass of water. You're doing laundry in the middle of the night? I don't hear the washing machine." 

"I was folding."

That didn't make sense. Paige lay in bed for a long time, thinking about what her mother might be doing in the basement. Why was her mother so upset?

In the morning, everything seemed fine. Her mom was calm, maybe a little tired, but she fixed them breakfast, made their lunches and drove them to school, just like she always did. The incident during the night was not mentioned.

Paige looks again at the basement door. Her parents aren't home. This is her best chance to find out the truth. Last night, her mother looked shocked to see her daughter standing in the hallway of her own home. Her mom looked...guilty. 

Her parents' room was empty when she broke the rule and opened their door. The bed hadn't been slept in. 

Now both of her parents are gone, to visit a great-aunt Paige has never heard of, much less seen.

Something is not right. She can feel it.

~/~/~ 

Henry wanted to watch _The Incredible Hulk_. Matthew looked like he's going to object. Instead, he sighed. "Fine." Henry plopped down in the middle of the sofa, oblivious as always. 

She's already forgotten what happened during the episode. She wasn't really paying attention.

Before she gets ready for bed, she looks in on Henry, who has already fallen asleep on a twin mattress that pulls out from underneath Matthew's bed. She gets the double bed in the small bedroom the Beemans use as a guest room all to herself. She wonders if she'll be able to sleep.

She's brushing her teeth when Mr. Beeman knocks softly on the bathroom door. "Paige, it's your dad on the phone. There's an extension in our room or you can take it in the kitchen."

She rinses her mouth quickly and sets her toothbrush down. She pulls her robe closer and ties the sash in a knot. "I'll go to the kitchen." Quietly she walks back down the hallway. Matthew is still up, watching the Friday Night Movie in the den. She finds the wall phone and picks up the receiver. "Hi, Dad." She hears Mr. Beeman hang up the phone in the bedroom. 

"Hi, Sweetheart." 

"Where are you? What happened?" She sounds like a frightened little girl. _That's unacceptable_ , she can hear her mother say. _You need to get control of your emotions, Paige._

"We're in New York now. I'm calling from a payphone."

There are so many questions she wants to ask, needs to ask. "When are you coming home?" is all she can manage. But her voice is stronger.

Silence. "I'm not sure yet. Soon, I hope. How's Henry holding up?" He sounds tired but otherwise himself. 

"Fine. Henry's always fine." 

Her dad chuckles. "I know. How are you?" 

She'd taken her time, looked around the basement, even opened up the cabinets. There were piles of carefully folded clothes sitting on top of the dryer. She recognized some t-shirts and underwear that she'd put into the hamper herself. _I was folding._

"I'm fine, too," she says, deciding her questions can wait. She doesn't want her dad to worry. "The Beemans are nice. They're taking good care of us. We even have clean clothes to wear all next week. Mom stayed up to do laundry."

Her dad doesn't say anything for a minute. "Your mom likes to keep on top of things, doesn't she?" he says finally.

This makes Paige smile, just a little. "Yes, she does." Her mother is a total control freak. "I love you, Dad." 

"I love you, too." 

"I love you more."


End file.
